HKB
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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · virtue caused by habituation · the nature and attributes of God · the fear of death · righteous living · religious persecution and toleration · reason and the intellect · perseverance · human reason vs divine law · grace until the end of life · grace · efficient cause of virtue
Usually: argument (3) · the test or trial (1) · detachment (1) · exhortation (1) · reverence (1)
“If we omit this phrase, the remainder of the definition will apply to all virtues in general, whether acquired or infused.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) · observation
“And hence after anyone has been justified by grace, he still needs to beseech God for the aforesaid gift of perseverance, that he may be kept from evil till the end of his life.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) · precept
Aquinas defends a standard definition of virtue—good quality of the mind by which one lives righteously, no one can use badly, which God works in us without us—explaining how each phrase fits causes and effects.
genus. But good is more common than quality, since it is convertible with being. Therefore "good" should not be put in the definition of virtue, as a difference of quality. Obj. 3: Further, as Augustine says (De Trin. xii, 3): "When we come across anything that is not common to us and the beasts of the field, it is something appertaining to the mind." But there are virtues even of the irrational parts; as the Philos…
In the Second Article, Aquinas holds that virtuous habits can be caused by habituation when human acts follow human reason, but virtues that direct to the good defined by Divine Law are produced only by divine operation.
body, considered as part of his species, is to be referred, in a way, to the soul, in so far as this particular body is adapted to this particular soul. In both these ways virtue is natural to man inchoatively. This is so in respect of the specific nature, in so far as in man's reason are to be found instilled by nature certain naturally known principles of both knowledge and action, which are the nurseries of intel…
Regarding perseverance, Thomas distinguishes three senses of perseverance and argues that while some aspects are infused with grace, continued endurance to the end requires God’s guarding assistance and is to be asked from God.
man by Christ's gift, than he had lost by Adam's sin. But Adam received what enabled him to persevere; and thus man does not need grace in order to persevere. *On the contrary,* Augustine says (De Persev. ii): "Why is perseverance besought of God, if it is not bestowed by God? For is it not a mocking request to seek what we know He does not give, and what is in our power without His giving it?" Now perseverance is b…